ADVENT: History
The Revelation of Aegis
"Aegis has made his move. It is time for our own."
- The Imperator of the Ethereal Collective
To the Imperator of the Ethereal Collective,
Since the formation of the Ethereal Collective, and our own introduction into it, we can state with confidence that it has thus far been a beneficial alliance. We have governed and restrained ourselves from making decisions that would not be in the best interests of the Collective, even if that has led some to question the path we have taken.
However, the Federation has endured because of your own assurances that the Ethereals would keep order and there would be continuous communication with the leadership to ensure smooth operations. While this has allowed the Federation and Unions to retain a respectable degree of autonomy, it does not quite erase the fact that Ethereal leadership has been sorely lacking.
In light of recent events, I would formally request an explanation for the current state of your own internal affairs. There is no excuse for hiding the defection of one of your kind, especially to Federation leadership, and it implies that the professional trust between us only extends so far, and only when your kind are not threatened.
It raises some questions as to the state of the Ethereal Collective as a whole. This is unlikely to be an isolated event, and despite the united front your species erects for itself, that is quickly crumbling under scrutiny. The Ethereals have been absent for too long, and as this was attributed before to laziness or apathy, we suspect the true reason might be more sinister.
The Federation has formally tolerated your refusal to address the issues that affect the Collective, such as the growing Sectoid problem and this highly questionable method of subjugating the Humans – which was initially promised to be a relatively quick and simple affair, and as is clearly seen, it is not.
From this point forward, the Andromedon Federation is withdrawing all military support for Collective Military operations until a satisfactory explanation is provided, and a permanent solution for the Human and Sectoid problems is presented and approved by the Unions.
This is non-negotiable. The majority of the Federation is in agreement on this. We are owed answers, and one way or another, we will acquire them.
By Decree of the Federation,
- Chernior, Chief Overseer of the Andromedon Federation
- A'Intellior, Chief Intelligence Overseer of Union Apear
- H'Terra – Chief Terraformer of Union Haruma
- S'Starina – Commander of Union Stuirah
- J'Vailan – Lead Overseer of Union Jamoiar
- R'Farradah – Weaponmaster of Union Reinarm
- V'Zarrah – Chief Logistics Overseer of Union Viarior
Recording of the Commander of XCOM and Chancellor Saudia Vyandar shortly after the press conference unveiling the Chinese-ADVENT Alliance and Aegis.
[Saudia Vyandar]: "So. How long have you had a fucking Ethereal hidden away, hmm?"
[The Commander]: "Close to half a year, I believe. Shortly after the initial Australian Invasion."
[SV]: "Really. How interesting. And you didn't think that maybe, just possibly, this might have been good information to tell me!?"
[TC]: "Of course I considered it. I ultimately decided against it."
[SV]: "Please explain. I really want to hear this."
[TC]: "Many reasons, chief among the reasons was that he deliberately wanted to be known by as few people as possible. I saw no reason to deny him that. He initially feared escalation, and at the time it was a valid concern."
[SV]: "Even if he didn't do anything, it couldn't hurt to at least tell us."
[TC]: "At the time, this was something I needed to have absolute secrecy on. ADVENT already has enough to deal with without worrying about an Ethereal."
[SV]: "Commander…if we had known an Ethereal was on our side, we could have been doing things differently. Not to mention that he must have a wealth of information."
[TC]: "I doubt much could have been done differently. And yes, he does. I'm sure everyone is going to want to speak to him."
[SV]: "Your gift of understatement strikes once more. Do the Ethereals even do that?"
[TC]: "Speaking? Yes, of course they do. He's not too bad once you get to know him. As much as you can, for an Ethereal."
[SV]: "And you apparently have more aliens working for you. Wonderful."
A pause.
[SV]: "For an organization called the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit, you have a suspicious number of aliens in your ranks."
[TC]: "The irony has not escaped me."
[SV]: sighs "You've turned this into a mess. I hope you know that."
[TC]: "Only a mess if you consider it one. By the end of today Korea will be secure and very likely Japan as well. And you can thank him yourself. He's wanted to meet you."
[SV]: "An honor, I suppose."
[TC]: "He definitely doesn't say that about everyone."
[SV]: "Alright, I'll accept you had your reasons…not much I can do to change the past now. But I would request that, if something like this ever comes up again, you share it. For all our sakes."
[TC]: "No promises. I'll do what is necessary."
[SV]: "I figured you'd say that. Well, I suppose either way, we have an Ethereal on our side. Do you trust him?"
[TC]: "Mostly. I trust that he's on our side. Not for our reasons, but he won't betray us."
[SV]: "That's good to hear, I guess. If anyone can keep an Ethereal under control it would be you."
[TC]: "Under control? A bit of a stretch, but I try not to rely solely on him. But since he's in this now, hopefully we'll begin to turn this war around to be a little more favorable."
[SV]: "Hopefully. At least he's bought us some time, and right now, I'll take it."
ADVENT After-Action Report 4911
Subject: Alien Defectors (Vitakara)
Author: Chief Marshal Gloria Al-Hashiahan
In a surprising turn of events, or more accurately, one of many surprising things to occur over the past few days as a result of the reveal of an Ethereal working with XCOM, ADVENT's alliance with China, and the defeat of the Ethereal identified as Caelior, we now have to deal with an unprecedented stream of alien defectors.
This is, I can only presume, due to the fact that Ethereals are regarded as something akin to deities in the Ethereal Collective, and are more figures of legend than leaders of a collective of species. Preliminary communication with the defectors has confirmed this to an extent, though it appears there are more factors than that at work here.
One reason this document is being written is to allow the transfer of more specialized staff to fully handle this, as my own forces are ill-equipped to deal with this situation – namely, we are trained to kill aliens, not interact with them, and certainly not to communicate with them. To sum up the situation, I have currently ordered my soldiers to hold them and keep them alive. Talking with them has been kept to a minimum, and to their credit, they have not been hostile.
Here is a further breakdown of the situation:
Initial Defection/Surrender: At approximately 3:50 P.M. PST, ADVENT soldiers stationed at Kelowna, British Columbia, reported that a large group of Vitakara had surrendered, presumably coming from one of their established bases close to Vancouver. They had weapons, but had stowed them away before making contact, presumably so our own soldiers wouldn't shoot them on sight. There was some initial verification, but they appeared to be genuine.
Over the next couple of hours, five similar incidents took place, two in Alaska, and three in California with sizes ranging from three to thirty. I am pleased to report that our soldiers did not pre-emptively open fire on them, although there were several close calls as they attempted to verify that it wasn't a trap of some kind.
It is not confirmed how each group escaped, but from debriefings it was either a quiet desertion before their superiors noted, or in the case of several of the larger groups, a violent event which very likely claimed some of the defector's own lives during the process. Communication is slightly strained in all cases because the vast majority of the defectors do not speak any Human language, and there are not always telepaths on hand.
All aliens have been placed under armed guard, and I have relocated other soldiers within my authority to support them in the event that the Collective attempts to retaliate against them. They have been cooperative thus far, but when dealing with aliens, there is no such thing as too safe, even if, and especially if, we have one of their most powerful assisting us now.
Motivations for Defection/Surrender: I will note that this cannot be applied to all groups defecting, as we are still waiting on translators and the Diplomatic Service (Who are presumably the ones who handle this sort of thing – as stated, this is an unprecedented situation) for several of them who do not have any Human-language speaking members.
However, I suspect they will have similar reasons as there is already a general theme across the information we have been able to acquire from the interviews conducted thus far: The Ethereal, Aegis as he is called. Curiously (I will elaborate on this later) it is more of a situation of that particular revelation being the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak.
The defectors that we were able to communicate with have expressed that they had been growing more and more disillusioned with Collective Military Command recently, and were frustrated with the lack of a clear direction or even a basic plan. Since it appears the Ethereals had lied about one of their own leaving, many saw that as an opportunity to leave and feel more…justified, for lack of a better word.
It's a curious situation, which largely depends on the race of Vitakara in question, so I'll break it down further.
Borelians: I am unsure if this is because they are a more militaristic race or not, but almost the entirety of these aliens followed a similar line of reasoning. It was explained from the mindset of a tactician, or at least less emotionally-based than the other races. The Borelians in general appear to disapprove of the direction this war has taken, and see their defection as a strategic decision to support the stronger side. It seems even aliens notice our own efficiency, and Aegis appearing has solidified that.
Vitakarians: Have a mix of reasons, largely coming down to feelings of betrayal and in some cases an apparent form of PTSD where some just wanted to stop fighting. Some of them didn't necessarily want to defect either, but did so because their leaders, friends, or mates were. Some expressed a growing fear of death, and that it was 'better to be prisoner than die for someone who won't tell us why we're really here'.
Dath'Haram: It appears that these aliens have, at least from the information I've got, wanted to abandon this entire war for some time. These are pacifists, so that isn't surprising, and curiously, all of them that we have are against the war, but were more or less staying because of their loyalty to their species and the Ethereals. Seems like Aegis pushed most of them over the edge when it came to this. They hate fighting, and almost all of them echoed the sentiment of the Vitakarian I quoted above.
Cobrarian: We don't have information on what motivated them to defect; we are still waiting on a translator. However, this is an interesting case because the entire defecting group (Ten in size) was Cobrarians. All of them were females (At least from what we know about them), and considering their moderate rarity within standard Collective forces, I feel that this is a more complicated situation than the others. We'll see though.
Oyariah: There has been approximately one Oyariah defector, who is being kept under heavy personal guard. His (Or her, we haven't determined the gender) motivations are unknown until we have a translator or psion speak to him. From what information we have on them, it is likely to do with how the Oyariah revere the Ethereals, and maybe this one felt that Aegis is more worthy of his service? A curious case, regardless.
Status of Acquired Equipment and Weaponry: Safely secured and awaiting specialist retrieval. I have already ordered the majority to be scanned for sabotage before being sent to our facilities, but I am expecting them to be completely genuine. The alien defectors didn't bring us much technology, per-se, as in gadgets, but considering the circumstances, bringing anything at all is useful.
What they did bring were fully functioning plasma rifles, pistols, and heavy weaponry. Along with plasma grenades, a few Borelians were carrying some kind of flash-freeze knife on them. Several Dath'Haram also provided us with what they called nanoblades which led to several soldiers very nearly losing their fingers. All of this is under guard, and no weapons have yet been tested. Considering working plasma tech is extremely rare, this is an exceptionally valuable collection.
What is almost as valuable is their armor. The aliens certainly didn't skimp on providing protection to their soldiers, and it is definitely superior to our own (Although probably not compared to XCOM), and their own systems and databanks are also likely worthy of some investigation. None of it seems sabotaged (And the aliens were wearing it prior to showing up), but I have also put it under guard until specialists arrive.
I will also note that one of the Vitakarians brought several "Data-cubes" with her, claiming they have information on them, but she doesn't know what. They could potentially have useful information, although I suspect we don't have an immediate way to interface with them.
Statistics of Alien Prisoners: They are as follows (Combined):
- 26 Vitakarians
- 22 Borelians
- 20 Dath'Haram
- 10 Cobrarians
- 1 Oyariah
- 35 Females
- 44 Males
Summary of Acquired Intelligence: Now this is potentially the most important part of this document, and while these aliens are certainly not unbiased in their views, they don't really have a reason to lie and if what they have said is true, the Collective is in much worse shape than we originally realized. Granted, even their 'worst' is likely more powerful than us, but with an Ethereal, I suppose that isn't as true anymore.
So to start with the more pertinent information, morale is very low among the Vitakara deployed to Earth. They feel the war has been exceptionally poorly managed and that the Ethereals don't really care about what happens. Some believe there isn't a plan at all, or at minimum there is some kind of infighting within the Ethereals regarding our species.
It doesn't help that there are a fairly large number of Vitakara soldiers coming down with some form of PTSD, our methods of warfare are apparently psychologically devastating against them. Borelians and Oyariah are mostly immune, but nearly every other species is extremely vulnerable to this.
As it turns out, it seems a lot of Vitakara don't actually join their military to fight. For all of them, this is their first 'real' war. You can likely see the problems with this, and the fact that the Collective Military is purposely putting untrained soldiers into combat is utterly baffling. Granted, the Borelians appear to have something of a militaristic culture, but the others quite clearly do not.
What is also interesting is that the vast majority of Vitakara know almost nothing about what is actually going on here. The claim is that the Zararch are suppressing all information to prevent the Aui'Vitakar (Their government) from asking more direct questions about what the purpose and status of the war really is. The fear of the Zararch and Ethereals has kept them in line, it seems.
Also relevant: There is a deliberate effort to keep soldiers from asking some fairly basic questions, namely why they are fighting us in the first place. The Dath'Haram in particular hate participating in this war, but have never spoken out for fear of vanishing (Which is apparently something that happens). With Aegis in the picture, they seem to think that this kind of sentiment will grow enough that the Zararch can't suppress it anymore.
What is also useful to us is that the innate respect we estimated most Vitakara have for the Ethereals appears to be dropping significantly. Most Ethereals (That they've seen) are aloof and tend to be isolated from others, yet have immediate authority. The only Ethereal all the Vitakara interviewed claim to support is the Battlemaster, and most think he is being held back or hindered by Ethereal politics.
None of them liked Caelior, and were ambivalent at best towards the Guardians. They don't know what to think about Quisilia, and some insist that it's a Zararch front. The point is that most aliens are not as necessarily loyal to the Ethereals as we originally believed.
Recommendations: If it isn't already clear, I would recommend treating these aliens well, as in, no unnecessary interrogations or experimentation unless they become problems. This is something I think we want to encourage and allow…as much as the aliens are our enemy, we should not necessarily become idiotically xenophobic for the sake of it. I would recommend following ADVENT guidelines for this kind of thing, but I could not find the appropriate ones for this situation. This is definitely something that needs to be addressed ASAP.
The most immediate usage of these aliens is to extract every piece of information we can from them regarding the Collective. I'd also suggest that all of them be moved into a secured location that is impossible to penetrate by Zararch agents or Ethereals, since it is not unreasonable to assume they will want to make an example out of these defectors.
They should not under any circumstances be allowed to interact with civilian populations for obvious reasons. Emotions are too high, and we can't risk them receiving mob or vigilante 'justice'. I would also be careful in selecting which soldiers are supposed to guard them. ADVENT is not immune to this kind of emotional judgement.
Eventually, I believe it would be a good propaganda campaign to have aliens openly speak against the Collective itself, and have those be broadcast to alien forces on Earth. It will be far more effective coming from one of their own, and with an Ethereal working with us, the message will only be reinforced. Giving them some media attention to maybe lessen public hostility to our cooperation with defectors may be recommended. Aliens clearly aren't going anywhere, and it's fairly clear now that even if we win, they're not going to go away since I doubt ADVENT will condemn entire species to death (With the likely exception of Mutons and Sectoids). Having exposure to more…friendly aliens is a way to get people used to that concept.
Future Ramifications: I would caution anyone reading this to not become either too excited or disappointed at this event. While 79 aliens is unprecedented, it is essentially not even a drop in the bucket for the vast majority of Collective forces. With that said, no one ever suspected this was even something that could realistically happen, and the fact that it did implies that it can happen again.
From the information already gathered, the Collective is nowhere near as cohesive as we've believed and if this can be leveraged to our advantage, we could quite potentially gain more defectors. At minimum, we will force the Zararch and Ethereals to take drastic – and noticeable – steps to curtail this, since they are unlikely to just let it continue.
However, there is zero chance they can cover up Aegis. They might do it for the defections, but definitely not for an Ethereal.
We should be very careful not to waste this opportunity. We know how aliens treat Humans. Ironically, we can end up making ADVENT more civilized in that regard. Worth considering, at least.
To the Ethereals of the Collective,
While normally such a document would be addressed to the Battlemaster or Quisilia, I feel that this is worth involving the entirety of Ethereal command as the recent events have and had drastic ramifications on the Collective as a whole and require immediate responses from the appropriate bodies and figures.
To sum up the situation, if something is not done soon, the Collective itself may grind to a halt. The Aui'Vitakar have voted to request complete information on the current conflict on Earth, the Hive Commanders have put their fleets on standby in all systems, and the Federation has suspended all military support for the Collective.
This situation, to put it bluntly, is not good.
Compounding this is the recent capture of Caelior, and seeing an Ethereal defeated to such an extent has not increased their confidence in your ability to handle this development. This will be more easily broken down by species and section.
Andromedon Federation: The Ethereals have already been on fairly thin ice since the deployment of the Spectres, and our promise to address the issue upon the conclusion of this situation was allowed even if they were not particularly happy. However, that the defection of Aegis was kept a secret has essentially destroyed what little patience they had remaining.
As mentioned above, the Federation has almost unanimously agreed to suspend military operations supporting the Collective. The good news is that any Andromedons already employed in the Collective Military are unaffected, since they are not part of the Federation military proper, and as such are under the command of the Battlemaster.
With that said, this means that the Federation will not allow recruitment to continue or give any kind of support through the Special Operators until they receive what they consider to be 'satisfactory answers'. They are not holding back with their demands, such as demanding the obvious answers like Aegis's defection, but also concrete plans in dealing with the Human and Sectoid "problems".
Considering the situation with the Hive Commanders, this is now suddenly a very precarious situation. Half of the Federation wants war with the Sectoids, and while normally the other half has largely been kept in line, there are enough Unions angry at us to put their reservations aside. The Ethereals have been absent too long in the Collective, which is without a doubt a contributing factor in this deterioration, which is rather clear in retrospect.
Handling the Andromedons is up to the Ethereals. They will not listen to anyone else and I would recommend they are handled before we have to deal with a secession or worse, a civil war.
The Aui'Vitakar: The Vitakara are not necessarily a military problem, but it was perhaps a mistake to keep the Aui'Vitakar in the dark to the extent they have been. The Aui'Vitakar are important to keeping the population pacified, and with a great many representatives openly calling for answers, the population is already aware and unfortunately, the Zararch can't deal with them without it being obvious.
To make matters worse there, the ones leading this charge are, for once, the entirety of the Sar'Manda delegation. I suppose it at least confirms they're paying attention, and speaks to the gravity of the situation and I suspect the Sar'Manda feel unforgivably insulted that it took the defection of an Ethereal to actually get some information on the war with the Humans. I don't necessarily know if that is the full reason, but the Sar'Manda becoming so involved is a stark warning to the general population that something is happening.
However, they can be eventually handled if we give them some token information and a general overview of the situation, as that is what they've wanted so far. We have attempted to downplay this situation, but it has escalated to the point where that is no longer something that can work effectively. This is a war, and the Vitakara will have to learn to transition to that. They can be pacified, and are the least important crisis to deal with at this point.
The Greater Hive Commanders: This is something I cannot personally attest to, as the Hive Commanders, at least the ones who communicate publicly, are less focused on Aegis and more on the claim by the Commander that their minds were dominated and warped in the initial meeting. If that's true, I don't think they'll be particularly happy.
They are considering the possibility valid enough that they have put their entire fleet on standby, though this might be in response to the Federation's insistence on wanting the Ethereals to deal with the GHC, and not necessarily the situation referenced. Knowing the Sectoids, I would imagine it is a combination of both.
The Hive Commanders are fully assembling based on the latest reports, approximately one thousand and twelve, every single Hive Commander in existence. They need to be treated exceptionally carefully as there will not be major division between them. Any decision will be as an entire species, and that will ultimately benefit us – or be a catastrophe.
I would strongly encourage an intervention as soon as possible. If it is true, I do not know how they can be assuaged. That is a consequence you will have to deal with.
Ethereal Collective Military: Morale is exceptionally low at the moment, and even though we have attained some victories against ADVENT, the failure at South Korea, the attack on Australia, the loss of Hawaii, Japan, and a major hit to our territory in America, have contributed to the feeling of disillusionment and weariness. Aegis has turned that into frustration and anger.
The reigning sentiment is that the only reason the Collective is at war with the Humans is as some kind of operation against Aegis. While I know the situation is not that clear cut, there is a point being raised that has not been answered for far too long: What was the original plan for Earth? What is the ultimate endgame? Conquest is not it, otherwise we wouldn't have allowed them a chance of victory.
Nebulous plans are all well and good (Which is arguably questionable) but there comes a point where secrecy hurts the entire operation. The goals and plans need to be stated plainly and clearly. Ethereal or not, Aegis has largely stayed out of this war and the Humans have put up a fight on their own. We have to avoid falling into a trap of retroactively assigning all the successes and failures of Humans to Aegis. They are as much of a threat now as he is.
But other ramifications are that aliens who are frustrated, dissatisfied, or angry with the Collective now have an alternative. Ethereals are looked upon in an elevated state by our species (Encouraged by your own kind) and now that will backfire. Aliens who would not have defected now will because there is an Ethereal on the other side. Already I have reports of far too many Vitakara who have either left, snuck away, or openly and violently rebelled before surrendering to ADVENT. They have our tech, weapons, and information.
And now ADVENT is going to know how poor a shape the military is in right now.
No, Mutons won't defect, but they also won't fire on Ethereals. They've literally been conditioned to follow the orders of any Elder. How long do you think it's going to take ADVENT to figure that out? Aegis could probably ask them to defect, and they would without proper conditioning. The problem is that this applies to our entire Muton army. This isn't going away.
The Andromedons are unlikely to defect either, thankfully, since they don't see Ethereals as deities or a higher power, but they are likely not going to be pleased being deployed on Earth. They might even desert back to the Unions if they are displeased with the direction this war goes. We really cannot afford to lose them.
Combine this with our outdated and inadequate tactics, equipment, and protection from psionics. The Collective Military has stayed stagnant for far too long, while the Humans have continuously and rapidly advanced forward. The Battlemaster and I agree on this – we must do the same thing.
The Collective Military is fatally flawed. That must be addressed before the war resumes.
Ramifications of Caelior's Capture: Battlemaster, I do not know exactly what you were thinking when you allowed Caelior to depart to Earth, but I suspect him becoming captured was not what you expected. Nor I for that matter. But this is worse than if they'd just killed him. Capturing an Ethereal alive implies a far greater skill than simply killing your enemies.
I am not privy to what, exactly, Caelior did or did not know, but whatever it was, I suspect XCOM will know it soon enough, and more than likely subject him to a gauntlet of tests and experiments. I do not know their plans, but considering what I have learned on their Manchurian Restraints, the likelihood of them attempting to mentally condition Caelior to fight us is one that is frighteningly high.
Sending him to die might have gifted XCOM a weapon in the future. They wouldn't take him alive unless they were positive they could hold him safely. With Aegis with them, this is almost assured. I also do not like how Aegis was talking to him in the fight; Caelior is young for an Ethereal, and could be swayed with convincing arguments. That would be worse than conditioning.
And I would also like to address that Patricia Trask, regardless of help, managed to mentally subdue an Ethereal. And more importantly, was openly wanting to kill him slowly and painfully. She's become far more dangerous recently, and we've allowed a psion of her caliber to exist for far too long.
She needs to be dealt with immediately.
Conclusion: There is little good news here and I won't repeat it. Much of this is outside what I can fix on my own, or even with the Zararch. But there is a bigger issue here.
This mess is a direct result of the Ethereals and the apathetic leadership of the Imperator.
Now they have to deal with the consequences of that. The Zararch will assist where we can, but we will not do your job for you anymore.
- Zar'Chon'ravarian'vitiary